PETROLIA, Ont. - A group of nine southern Ontario army cadets won’t be marching in Ottawa’s Remembrance Day ceremonies because trip organizers are concerned about safety after last month’s shooting rampage at the National War Memorial and Parliament Hill.

Tom Wiggins, commanding officer of the Petrolia Army Cadets, said it was a difficult decision.

“Do we want to respond to terrorists by kind of living in fear and kind of second-guessing all our decisions moving forward? No,” he said.

Nevertheless, organizers weighed the options and decided this wasn’t the year to make the trip.

The group had planned to send nine cadets with two instructors. They were to tour the War Museum and Parliament and join the larger cadet contingent and march in the ceremony.

Those plans came into doubt Oct. 22 after Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, 32, gunned down Cpl. Nathan Cirillo, 24, while he stood guard at the National War Memorial and stormed Parliament’s Centre Block across the street. Authorities shot Zehaf-Bibeau dead in the Hall of Honour.

“It’s a bit unfortunate that one person’s actions...terrible actions, resulted in us having to change an experience that would maybe have been potentially life-changing,” Wiggins said.

He said he didn't receive direct orders to cancel the trip.

“There was some general concerns expressed about going to a location where the cadets would be marching,” he said. “I have a large group of people’s children.”